Wabag, IIT-K to build e-villages by Ganga

The value of the waste water treatment industry vis-à-vis Indian market is around Rs 22,000 crore. It is growing at about 10 to 12 per cent annually. Wabag currently occupies 15 to 16 per cent of the market. S Varadarajan, Director and Chief Growth Officer of Wabag, tells us, “We signed an MOU with IIT Kanpur, which was keen on creating a model ‘smart’ village. They chose these Ganga Grams where the village would have all modern amenities, including recycling and sewage treatment plants. Wabag will utilise the sludge that comes out of sewage treatment and convert it into power using a biogas power plant attached to the treatment facility. We aim to abate direct discharge of untreated liquid wastewater from villages to Ganga and promote better sanitation practices in the villages.” 

These Model Ganga Grams would constitute a part of the Namami Gange and Swachh Bharat programmes launched by the Centre. This initiative is being supported by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Rural Development & Ministry of Gram Panchayat, New Delhi. 

Talking about the urban scenario, Varadarajan says, “When you look at the concept of waste water treatment, almost 90 of 95 per cent of water in Tier 3 cities goes untreated. And in Tier 1 cities, almost 75 per cent of waste water goes untreated. In Chennai, we have 60 to 70 per cent waste water getting treated out of whatever sewage we produce. However, in Mumbai, the treatment is almost nil. This creates an opportunity for companies like Wabag, to contribute to this economy. It is also a concern for all the environmentalists and the people at large as we are just pushing garbage into the sea.” 

He explains, “Globally, we have created large plants for reuse, effluent and sewage treatment and seawater RO conversion and we have about 70 installations across India. Right now, we are building a reuse plant with a capacity of 45 million litres per day, against the 700 LT million litres of treatment which is happening here in Chennai. This is the largest plant of its kind in India which will be coming up in Koyambedu. The plant is estimated to be ready in about 24 months and will see an investment of about Rs 600 crore.” 

“In Chennai, we can solve the drinking water crisis once and for all if we go for a 600 million litre seawater RO plant. Our plants in Perungudi for Kodungaiyur, which have a capacity of 110 mn litres and 55 mn litres, generate 1 to 1.5 MW power every day. Almost 60 to 70 per cent of the running cost of these plants goes for power. If you can run these plants on their own power (biogas), you can bring down your costs by 30 per cent and it is green power,” he remarks.